Another good ringing morning

This morning the Group caught 63 birds among which included: 11 Blackcaps; 12 Chiffchaffs; 7 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Kingfishers; 2 Meadow Pipits; 1 Kestrel; 1 Treecreeper; and 1 Grey Wagtail. Several members of the public were present and enjoyed watching the birds up close and being ringed. The children were so thrilled by seeing a selection of 17 different birds.

That is not nice to treat Ian's finger as if it was a fish (Photo Mike Tyler)

The young male Kingfisher now behaving much better (Photo Mike Tyler)

A second year male Kestrel (Photo Mike Tyler)

First autumn wader catch

Autumn always gives the Group the opportunity to try and catch waders using mist nets at high tide and normally after dark. Can be tricky, but with an experienced team the sessions are always challenging, but enjoyable. Last evening was no exception.

Our catches are normally small, but the session was certainly better than expected. Apart from a non wader species, a Shelduck, fourteen waders were caught and processed. These included:

one Common Snipe; five Dunlin; two Curlew; five Redshamk and one Whimbrel. The latter was a new species for the Group. A pleasing varied catch.

Common Snipe

Our new wader - the Whimbrel

Curlew and Whimbrel comparison
(Photographs Mike Tyler)

Nice September catch

The second catch for September resulted in 50 birds caught of 14 species a nice varied catch. The usual autumn migrants were contained in the total, but 18 juvenile Greenfinches could not resist the local feeders, nor the interest of ringers.